Packaging for consumer packs such as cigarette packs is generally well known. A cigarette pack typically includes a foil layer wrapped around the cigarettes in the pack; paper or paperboard wrapped around the foil layer; and a layer of outerwrap, generally comprising a metallic film or a transparent film of a polymeric material such as polyethylene, wrapped and sealed around the entire pack to maintain cigarette freshness. A thin strip of material, generally consisting of a polymer such as polypropylene, is provided on the inner side of the film before the film is wrapped around the pack. This strip of material, called a “tear strip,” is usually denser and stronger than the film and usually projects from the wrapping at a side of the pack and is pulled to slit open the polymeric wrapping thereby dividing the wrapping into upper and lower portions. The upper portion is usually removed and discarded to thereby gain access to the packaged cigarettes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,017 to Sprinkel, Jr. et al. teaches the use of a receptacle that can be outside the polymeric film of a cigarette pack or between the film and the tear strip. The receptacle is filled with an aromatic substance. When the tear strip is pulled to slit the polymeric film, the receptacle is also slit open, releasing the substance contained therein for dispersal into the air or onto the cigarettes in the pack.
Currently, there is a need in the art to provide an aromatic substance to the surface of a package film by a continuous method. Furthermore, there is a need and desire to provide aromatic substances that release aroma when the tear strip is pulled along the package.